Josie Stevens, Reebok's director of global public relations, said: “It was being made rather difficult. It was proving a challenge on the ground in terms of getting all the logistics and practicalities being asked of us.”
Reebok, which typically has a hospitality facility at the Olympics to host about 100 people daily, is outfitting 250 athletes and initially planned to share a facility with Adidas at a local school, but neither will move forward with the plans.
Reebok has also decided against making their athletes available for press conferences or one-on-one interviews during the games. Instead, the company plans to use a video news service to interview athletes and distribute content to media organisations.
“As a brand, we didn't want to put our athletes in the position when being interviewed of having to explain their personal views on the human-rights issue, and we also didn't want to act as a censor either" Stevens said.
Reebok has long made human rights a core tenet of the company, beginning with its decision to pull out of South Africa in 1986 in protest against apartheid. The Canton business has been giving out human rights awards since 1988 to honor young people around the world who have fought injustices and was the first company to be accredited by the Fair Labor Association for its program to improve conditions for footwear factory workers.
